roundtable


companies not exporting, “could be in real trouble.”


Lane: “Unfortunately, UK manufacturing is often not especially high-profile in the public perception. Yet, if a major City financial institution moved to Frankfurt that would be on newspaper front pages, and would be profoundly impacting government policy.”


Lewis: “Brussels cannot make Brexit a success or the EU initiative could end. The UK won’t get all the EU benefits it wants. Our only strategy is to set up as a low-tax, business friendly, offshore location – a ‘Singapore-lite’ environment.”


Lane: “We are still working on our post- Brexit UK re-definition, and unless our politicians are clear in what we want our country to look like in a few years time it might be forced upon us and we may wake up when it’s too late and realise we want to be doing XYZ not ABC.”


Bion: “Every other European country is trying to escape their past by being in the EU; we are trying to reclaim our past by leaving it.”


Other than Brexit, what are your main ‘UK plc’ concerns?


Lewis suggested: “How do we market our innovative businesses better than leading nations like America? How do we find global supply chains to which we can add value?


“How do we encourage a ‘build-a-global billion-pound-company’ attitude rather than ‘create and sell’?”


Knott: “The challenge of looking beyond the EU to grow international business and trading alliances.” Clarke’s company is already targeting South America – “but breaking into new markets is not easy.”


Lane: “Despite our UK manufacturing excellence how do we boost our productivity, compared to the G7?


Comparisons were only relevant within discrete company sectors, commented Strutt.


King noted that much UK manufacturing is located in the South East where productivity levels are good. One reason for the government’s ‘Northern Powerhouse’ focus, suggested Ryan.


Bion queried the usual ‘turnover divided by staffing’ productivity calculation, suggesting ‘average added-value per person’ would be a better comparative.


Other Roundtable concerns?


Government growth grants generally require increased employment, yet increased productivity levels can be achieved with fewer employees.


THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE – JULY/AUGUST 2017


SMEs can receive beneficial R&D tax credits, but unhelpfully don’t get the cash benefit until 15 months after their expenditure.


Innovation: Are we ahead or behind?


Cooper and King agreed that the manufacturing sector produced very good innovation that could help drive UK economic growth, but sold its innovation too early. Foreign investors were prepared to take more risks. “Our mindset needs to change if we are to see billion-pound UK companies.”


Lewis highlighted how the UK’s biggest competitors in many global supply chains were now businesses or nations that the UK helped to set-up with its innovation, systems and manufacturing processes.


Software and systems design was now a major UK strength, highly valued throughout the world, “but we are not owning it, developing the commercial platforms for our innovation.”


China has its own Chinese competitor to the global tech giants such as Google and Amazon, he noted. Where are the UK competitors? “Our innovation is behind, because we don’t have a global commercial outlook.”


Brexit could facilitate that global mindset shift, supported by a strong government- led business-friendly environment.


Strutt added: “We have examples of brilliant UK innovation across all sectors, particularly within the fourth industrial revolution of the digital age.”


Lewis exampled graphene discovered at University of Manchester and revolutionising the composite materials world. “I believe in 2012 the UK had 54 patents for it, compared to China’s 2,200.”


Bion: “It’s a cultural mindset. We value owning our own houses in this country, but owning our own businesses? We applaud inward investment, and selling one’s business. The UK is an experiment to see if we don’t need to own businesses.”


A ‘Buy British’ campaign too far


Bion: “According to Mark Carney, we depend on ‘the kindness of strangers’. We are still trying to balance our UK plc books: £6 out of every £100 spent is borrowed from abroad. And, how much inward investment actually helps the UK economy? Isn’t it just buying up stuff already here, changing the ownership, which then takes dividends out of the country?”


Clarke noted that other EU nations businessmag.co.uk 33 Philip Ryan Patrick King


readily bought their own home- manufactured products, but ‘Buy British’ campaigns had not been very successful. And, too often, major UK Government contracts had gone to foreign manufacturers.


Bion: “At some stage the party has to stop, and maybe then manufacturing and exporting will be seen as vitally important to this country.”


David Murray


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